The Hobbit

J. R. R. Tolkien

Chapters 10–11

Chapters 12–13, page 2

page 1 of 2

Summary: Chapter 12

[D]warves are not heroes, but calculating
folk with a great idea of the value of money; some are tricky and treacherous
and pretty bad lots; some are not, but are decent enough people
like Thorin and Company, if you don’t expect too much.

The dark passage into the mountain stands open before
the company. Thorin nominates Bilbo, the official burglar, to go
inside to snoop. Bilbo enters, slips on his ring to make himself
invisible, and proceeds down the long, dark passage into Smaug’s
lair. There, he sees the magnificent, terrible dragon asleep on
piles of treasure. Smaug is red and gold, with fiery breath, sharp
claws, and a hide as strong as a diamond. Bilbo is horribly afraid,
but he works up the nerve to take a single golden cup from one of
the piles. He then rushes back up to the dwarves, who marvel over
the cup.

Bilbo’s theft does not go unnoticed by Smaug, who takes
careful account of his treasure. When he awakens, he is enraged
to discover that the cup is missing. He flies around the mountain
breathing blasts of flame, and when he sees the company’s ponies
at the foot of the mountain, he chases the ponies down and devours
them. Meanwhile, the dwarves and Bilbo huddle inside the secret
passage, terrified. After a while, Smaug returns to his den and
falls asleep. The hobbit works up the nerve to return to the dragon’s
lair, only to discover that the dragon has been feigning sleep.
The terrible creature is wide awake, and Smaug is waiting for Bilbo.

Although he cannot see Bilbo because of the ring, Smaug
smells Bilbo and greets him mockingly. Bilbo is smart, though, and answers
Smaug only in riddles, which amuses the dragon enough to quell his
anger for a while. Cleverly, the hobbit flatters Smaug into displaying
his thick-skinned underbelly, revealing an open patch in Smaug’s
scaly armor above his left breast.

Bilbo rushes back up the passage, just outrunning the
dragon’s angry flames. The hobbit tells the dwarves all that he
has learned while a thrush sits nearby and seems to listen. They
then hear the roar of the dragon once more and shut the door to
the passage just before an avalanche comes down upon it. They are
trapped inside the mountain.

Summary: Chapter 13

Smaug guesses from Bilbo’s riddles that the company is
somehow involved with the men of Lake Town, so he flies there to
wreak vengeance. The hobbit and dwarves cower in the dark passage
until they can bear it no longer. They slowly creep down toward
Smaug’s chamber. When Bilbo determines that the beast is gone, the
dwarves run out to the treasure in glee, remembering the prosperous
times of old. Bilbo takes only a few things. One of them is the
Arkenstone, an incomparable gem that Thorin seeks but which the
hobbit decides to keep for himself. Bilbo also finds a marvelous
coat of mail made of mithril, a wonderfully strong, light metal
that is scarcer and more valuable than silver or gold.

After the excitement has died down, Thorin leads the
company through the passages of the mountain and out the main gate
at the source of the River Running. They still have no idea what
to do about Smaug when he returns. In the meantime, they are desperately hungry,
so they follow the river down from the mountain to an old guard-post
cavern that has not been used since the days of Thror, Thorin’s
grandfather. There, they rest, eat, and wonder where the dragon
has gone.